I just learned that 9/11 is officially now called “Patriot Day” by the government. I’ve also been getting a lot of calls to participate in various 9/11 Service Day events, stuff like “Hey, 9/11 sucked and we shouldn’t forget it, so why don’t you come help paint the church library?”
Now I’m all for community service, but there’s a big part of me that still gets bitter when people co-opt the WTC tragedy. 9/11 was a huge red-letter date in my life – I was there when it happened and I spent a year working by the pile alongside the construction crews, the police, the USAR folks, the firemen, and all the volunteers. For my 20-year-old self, it was both formative and traumatizing.
Now, nine years later, I’m kind of surprised to find that I still have resentment built up around that day. I don’t want that chapter of my life to be co-opted for patriotism. I don’t want it co-opted for ecumenism. I don’t even want it co-opted for volunteerism – it just seems manipulative. When perky activists start talking to me about the 9/11 legacy, I just want to say, “You weren’t there. You didn’t smell it. You didn’t see the bodies. You weren’t even in New York. You don’t have the right to appropriate that day.”
It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that this isn’t the healthiest of attitudes. I don’t own 9/11 any more than any one else does, and 9/11 is as good a reason as any to get a bunch of people out volunteering in their communities; it’s certainly be better than everyone staying home and being mopey in their rooms, which is what I usually do. So I’m going to go out and volunteer with everyone else. If anyone wants to join me, I encourage you to.
I’m never, however, going to call it “Patriot Day.”
Posted by: Isaac | Tags: musings, politics | No Comments »
Welcome to Transmission’s series of blog posts for the season of Advent. Seven men and women from the Transmission community have committed to writing one blog post each week for the four weeks of Advent. The posts might be related to the lectionary for the day, or might simply be the musings of the author. Whether you join us for one day or the entire season, we hope you will join us in clearing some space in our busy lives to prepare for the coming of the Christ.
We’ve never really gotten into the whole projector thing at Transmission – largely, I think, because we’re in a different place every single week and that limits our ability to spend a lot of time setting up. (I think the paper-lantern labyrinth was the most involved set up we’ve had recently.)
Here’s a list of our upcoming meetings: